I have just returned from the vortex of Gibraltar Race 2018 and I want to share with you some thoughts on this bike challenge which is growing and is becoming increasingly important internationally. Here's how it went from my point of view, the man of the media.
First, I do a little’ clarity, to allow everyone to understand what we're talking. The Gibraltar Race is a bike-challenge based on regularity and navigation. Therefore it is inappropriate to talk about real race when in fact there is a ranking and there's a winner (This year the Italian Antonio Berera). Already in questo articolo a couple of years ago I explained What Is the Gibraltar Race and I invite you to reread, However, I do a quick summary. Also I recommend taking a look at the site www.gibraltarrace.com.
Gibraltar Race 2018 in summary:
Moto Raid Experience Cuneo is the company that organizes this event that lasts two weeks and the size of Europe from east to west on trails and off road. The route covers a distance of about 8.000 km and each edition is different. Remains (or at least remained until today) as a fixed point the conclusion to Gibraltar, but each year is different departure and 90% the track. In the first edition it was in Athens, in the second Burgas on the Black Sea and this year was the Transylvania. For two weeks participants pass between 10 e the 12 hours more a day and roughly half the time it is off-road. For the avoidance of doubt I clarify this point: having covered an average of 500 km a day is impossible that half of the kilometers are off-road, but the bulk of the Gibraltar Race fun lies in this part in which, moreover, takes place “the game” decreeing ranking. The rest of the path is made by transfers on asphalt – as also it happens to speak to Dakar – on secondary roads and minor. Very rarely will take expressway roads or highways, only when impossible to do otherwise.
The game that decrees the ranking and the winners It is based on regularity and navigation. In practice, each participant has a logger (provided by the organization) and a GPS navigator (which instead must possess). Every morning at the start, the pilot receives them and his navigator in secretly at night is charged the stage of the day. You will see you indicated, however,, only the features of transfer, while on the off-road sections said “special session” to make your way to real rally, You will only see the waypoints that will connect with their own skills. It will do the most possible to the time indicated by the organization: a second more or less corresponds to a penalty point. Main points you, better at six and then… vinci. Obviously there are many other ways to accumulate penalties, but here I will not dwell and I invite you to take a look at Official Rules. The logger, instead, It must always be on and records all movements of the rider during the day. In the evening, the data is downloaded from the organization that can compare with the correct track and verify the penalty points. For emergencies, at last, the drivers are equipped with a satellite Balise that again because it detects the position. This allows you to have a live-tracking, publicly visible on the website Gibraltar Race, and it allows them to simply press a button to activate the rescue.
Motoreetto to Gibraltar Race… 2!
Last year Moto Raid Experience has instructed me to follow the Race Gibraltar as a staff member in charge to the media, proposal which was repeated to my satisfaction this year. Basically my job is to follow the whole Gibraltar Race and move bivouac in bivouac on a dedicated vehicle (last year unfortunately an RV, This year a van), to coordinate the photographers present on the track, to collect their material, to make videos at the bivouac, to know the stories of all the participants and to interview them and publish daily articles and videos. What I do is basically build the newspaper account of the event. The result is the video I posted every day on Facebook page of Gibraltar Race It is on YouTube Moto Raid Experience and that you can see in this article the diary I kept on Moto.it, event partners.
It is a beautiful work because it allows me to be in the live event and not in an office and allows me especially to know so many incredible people in their normality. Let me explain. All participants are amateurs Gibraltar Race, ie common motorcyclists like you and me. Ok, maybe someone has a past in the competitions, but today none of them runs in motion for a living. Participating in a tough test for themselves and their bikes (try doing 500 km of which 150-200 off-road every day for a fortnight and we'll talk) not for glory, not for awards (frankly… They are certainly not sufficient motivation) but for personal satisfaction. To feel alive, free, to live at 100% the thing you love to do, to get involved, to challenge themselves. And of course I love them for it. All, but everyone, They are genuine people and this makes the camp a melting pot of pronunciations, dialects and even the kitchen where we feel at home immediately.
Every night I love shooting in the Dutch and English gazebo for scuriosare of what's in store. In this last, eg, while Mark changing tires and repair the bikes of his British assisted, Women always show me proud of what he's doing sizzle on the plate. And in the morning, there is no shortage of course bacon and eggs before the start!
My typical day at Gibraltar Race
About routine, perhaps you like to know how I perform my day to Gibraltar Race. Awakening is to the 6, I grab the camera and go to the starting point passing through the bivouac. So check if there are unexpected, if everything is correct. In case there's any last minute news, someone in the night failed to repair it, or he did it last, I try to seize the moment, let me tell. Alle 7 Apart from the first pilot. Except for the first day – When you start with the race number – and the last – when you starting in reverse order – The starting order is determined by the ranking of the day before. The first starting, therefore, It is not who is in the lead in the overall standings, but who has collected the least penalty in the last stage. I follow the starting procedures, I pick up some last minute interview and when they started all the drivers I have breakfast. The race, however, because there is no time to lose. If I'm lucky are advanced eggs and bacon or good Guido held by the bread, butter and jam (that luxury!), otherwise… what's. Load my bag on the van and leave for the next bivouac. They can take from 4 all 6 hours to cover the distance, so often during the journey I start to work on the computer by downloading and assembling video and writing articles. Beh… of course when I'm not driving… Arrival at the bivouac when – if everything went the right way – the pilots are doing the last special, therefore between one and two hours of advantage, but it is not always so, on the contrary. As one of the first to arrive, if there is time support staff in the distribution of space at the bivouac and take possession of that which will be for the night “pressroom”. It may be the campsite bar, a table near the kitchen, a bungalow… wherever there are power outlets, and the reception is good to be able to upload videos. When they arrive early pilots to turn the camp in search of stories. All become great friends so each passing day increases the time required for this round of chatter. I always have with me the camera of course, so I can capture the best interviews “a caldo”. Back before dinner at my computer to download the material that comes from the photographers who were in special traits that are the legendary (or mythological) Alessio Corradini and newcomer Massimo Di Trapani. Two large. From them it depends on the quality of my work, so I try to spoil them when I can by giving the best places in the bungalow or procuring a cold beer. Though, I admit, they are often more considerate towards me that I in their. While I dine riders public video the day before and between mouthfuls start to edit the new video. The process continues until the eyes permit, always between one word and the other pilots and fellow staff. In other words always pleasant and convivial atmosphere falls to me that part of what he is staring at the screen. When sleep becomes important, I close and I put in the cot in order to grant those 4-5 hours of sleep.
Many thanks to Lucie Olachova for pictures stolen during various camps. If I had known, I would go to the barber.
The Gibraltar Race tomorrow
The Gibraltar Race is an event that has grown a lot in these three years and I confess that I hope a bit of merit is also for his work on these two issues to tell. It is certainly a winning formula that appeals to many, It has a great potential and organize it certainly is not easy. The mere fact that each year the exchange rate path implies for the organizers a tremendous job of scouting in the previous months and it is not always easy to do. Quest’anno, eg, the first heavy snowfall and rains then they made this task almost impossible until a few days before departure. Not to mention the difficulty of finding the right points of campsites or facilities can accommodate a bivouac done about 150 persons with appropriate services, ending with the logistics that sees every morning from the truck with the equipment for all pilots, the tires and everything else in the direction of the next bivouac. A large complex machine that moves fast across Europe and that requires each year to be refined and Rebuilding. I noticed great progress and experience teaches everyone how to deal with situations; certainly there are still many aspects that can be improved but I can say that the staff of Moto Raid Experience and also all the volunteers have done a great job. To them I extend my gratitude for the quality of the time spent together.
But it's time to get to work for the edition 2019 which I am sure will have other important news. I hope to be still here to tell you every day this crazy Gibraltar Race.
#RideMore
